Trundling around Edinburgh and Leith

Calton Hill, ablaze in sunlight, viewed from the St. James Centre on 14th March, 2004.

A tulip in a bottle on my mantelpiece, 14th March, 2004.

'The Tun', a modern glass-fronted building with the inevitable roof-mounted projection, in Holyrood Road, Edinburgh, 14th March, 2004.

A photo which sums up my dislike for the currently-fashionable style of architecture. To me, this architects' office in Constitution Street, Leith, is nothing but an amorphous, random jumble of squares and cubes, and is no improvement on the ugly concrete brutalism of the 1960s. It is devoid of ornament, oblivious to its setting, and could be situated in any town, anywhere. Most of all, I hate those stupid metal projections where the roof is supposed to be. They look like some sort of gigantically-mutated TV-aerials! Is this some sort of secret listening-post from which the powers-that-be monitor our brain-waves or something? Do we walk past it and suddenly find ourselves thinking: 'Privatisation good, social equality bad!'? Almost every building that's gone up in the last ten years in Edinburgh has them. What's wrong with an actual roof - pitched, with slates - forgodsake? Photographed on 14th March, 2004.

A drinking-establishment apparently belonging to a Mr or Mrs D. Windae seen in Queen Charlotte Street, Leith, 14th March, 2004.

Westward view across Victoria Bridge, which formerly carried a double-track railway over the Water of Leith in Leith Docks, 14th March, 2004.

Westward view across Victoria Bridge, which formerly carried a double-track railway over the Water of Leith in Leith Docks, 14th March, 2004.

View from Victoria Bridge, which formerly carried a double-track railway over the Water of Leith in Leith Docks, towards buildings in the Shore, 14th March, 2004.

Modern housing in a somewhat industrial style (perhaps it was intentional, in view of the location) at Rennie's Isle, Leith Docks, 14th March, 2004.

View along the Western Approach Road, Edinburgh, towards Lothian Road, 14th March, 2004. Part of Edinburgh Castle can be seen through the structure of the then recently-installed footbridge linking Rutland Square and the modern office-buildings surrounding Festival Square. The Western Approach Road and Festival Square are built upon the site of the former Princes Street Station, the Edinburgh terminus of the Caledonian Railway, which was closed in 1965.

I was intrigued by the stencilled sign by this scruffy doorway in Rutland Square, Edinburgh, 14th March, 2004: 'Toc H'. I remember hearing of TV entertainers donating money from charity performances to Toc H when I was wee; others will be familiar with the song 'Pow R Toc H' from Pink Floyd's 'The Piper at the Gates of Dawn'. According to Wikipedia: "Toc H (TH) is an international Christian movement. The name is an abbreviation for Talbot House, 'Toc' signifying the letter T in the signals spelling alphabet used by the British Army in World War I...In 1920, Reverend Philip Thomas Byard (Tubby) Clayton founded a Christian youth centre in London, also called Toc H, which developed into an interdenominational association for Christian social service."

The footbridge over the Western Approach Road, Edinburgh, which links Rutland Square and the modern office-buildings surrounding Festival Square, 14th March, 2004. The Western Approach Road and Festival Square are built upon the site of the former Princes Street Station, the Edinburgh terminus of the Caledonian Railway, which was closed in 1965.

The footbridge over the Western Approach Road, Edinburgh, which links Rutland Square and the modern office-buildings surrounding Festival Square, 14th March, 2004.

The rear of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in Morrison Street, Edinburgh, 14th March, 2004.

The rear of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre in Morrison Street, Edinburgh, 14th March, 2004.

The Morrison Street facade of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre, another building topped and fronted with daft metal projections. In a few years' time this will look appallingly dated. 14th March, 2004.

Modern building in Semple Street, Edinburgh, with the ubiquitous and ridiculous metal projections at roof-level, 14th March, 2004.

Modern building in Semple Street, Edinburgh, with those ubiquitous and ridiculous metal projections at roof-level, and above every window too. 14th March, 2004.

The Bank of Scotland's metal- and glass-clad New Uberior House at the corner of East Fountainbridge and Earl Grey Street, Edinburgh, 14th March, 2004. Yet another building topped with daft metal projections. Could they be some sort of exceedingly unsubtle lightning-deflectors, perhaps?

The Bank of Scotland's metal- and glass-clad New Uberior House at the corner of East Fountainbridge and Earl Grey Street, Edinburgh, 14th March, 2004.

The Bank of Scotland's metal- and glass-clad New Uberior House at the corner of East Fountainbridge and Earl Grey Street, Edinburgh, 14th March, 2004.

Riego Street, Tollcross, with the rear of the large steel- and glass-clad commercial development which occupies one side of Earl Grey Street between East Fountainbridge and Lauriston Place, Edinburgh, 14th March, 2004.